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“I am a cradle Catholic and my husband of eight years just went through RCIA this Easter. Praise the Lord! His conversion was due, in large part, to your show and the awesome answers of Tim Staples, Jimmy Akin, and the rest of the gang. Your show has helped me, my now husband, grow deeply in love with the Church.”

~ Patty

Why is God silent?

Full Question

One huge impediment to my faith is that God never communicates with me. I pray daily, attend Mass often, and confess at least twice a month. But I still feel nothing but emptiness and silence from God. How is it possible to have a relationship with God if he won't at least have a conversation with me?

Answer

If God ever ignored you, you would cease to exist. He affirms you with your every heartbeat. Are you disgruntled because he isn’t conforming to your standards? He speaks to you on his terms all the time. And I don’t mean just through his creation. He speaks to you by the gift of faith that he has given you. He speaks to you from every crucifix you have ever seen. But most of all he speaks to you from the chalice on the altar which contains the blood that he willingly shed for you. Think of this: We are attracted to the good in things and then love them for that reason. But when God loves things, he makes them lovable by loving them. When we look at a crucifix and see how much he loves us, we also see how lovable we are! All of this is Jesus speaking to us. But we have to be focused on him and not what we want from him. As for the good feelings that you want, he obviously has not determined that they would be the best for you at this time. Mother Teresa went without such gratification for 20 years. But he still spoke to her through the graces he gave her. I’m sure she would tell you that such gratification is worth waiting for.

~ Theo Venard, Blessed, missionary priest, martyr in China; to his executioner, who had just asked Venard what he would give to be killed quickly because the executioner coveted Venard's clothing. Fr. Venard was beheaded.